After the awesome test footage leaked this summer, 20th Century Fox officially announced in September that ‘Deadpool’ from director Tim Miller and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick would finally be hitting theaters in 2016. However, there was no guarantee that Ryan Reynolds would return to reprise his role as Wade Wilson from the horrendous ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine.’ A number of factors could have prevented the actor from taking part in this highly anticipated project, but luckily it looks like we won’t have to live in a world where he isn’t the Merc With A Mouth.

Deadline broke the news today that Reynolds will indeed reprise the role that he originated back in 2009 to much fanfare (until about the third act of the film when they took away everything we loved about the character). The actor himself made the announcement as well on his Twitter with this post teasing Deadpool’s favorite delicacy:

The outlet also reports that production on the film starts in March 2015, so expect more cast members to be announced in the coming weeks. With the news of Oscar Isaac joining ‘X-Men: Apocalypse’ and now this, it looks like the studio is really trying to make moves to atone for their X-sins and make things right in their Marvel Cinematic Universe. Now if only they’d allow their characters to interact with Marvel Studios’ characters…

What do you think about this ‘Deadpool’ announcement? Are you excited that Ryan Reynolds will be reprising his role from ‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’? Would the movie have even been worth doing if the actor didn’t sign on? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

‘Deadpool’ starring Ryan Reynolds bursts into theaters on February 12, 2016.